report with impact manual - practice learning€¦ · recording skills in safeguarding adults: best...

Writing clearly, accurately and effectively is an essential skill for all social workers. It underpins good professional practice, successful inter-agency communication and quality service delivery.Preparing an effective well written assessment, inter-agency communication, case record or formal report can be a daunting prospect.On this course you will gain the confidence and criticality skills you need to deliver to the high standards now expected by regulatory bodies, inquiries, reviews and the courts.

REPORT WITH IMPACT An advanced course in report writing skills for qualified social workers

Please email [email protected] for further details.

This highly practical one-day course will give you the valuable tools you need to:

l Write clear, accurate, focused records and present analytical reports with impact.

l Include assessment of risk and need of the most vulnerable, demanding or dangerous service users and communicate your message succinctly and persuasively.

l Enhance your skills in drawing analysis and conclusions as part of specialist assessments such as child/adult protection, mental health assessment, offender, fostering and adoption.

l Respond appropriately to the legislation, policy, procedure and care standards that guide social work recording and reporting.

What you will learn l The elements of good report writing, structure and content. l How to appraise your current report writing skills and identify areas for self-improvement.

l Critical analysis and decision-making. l What information is or is not relevant, including breadth and depth of enquiry.

l Presenting risk factors, analysis and assessment. l Linking assessment, risk and need, to conclusions and case planning.

l The principles of what makes a good report and learning from Inquiries.

We do learning... l We provide a range of learning and development courses, and we take great pride in designing and delivering tailored training programmes that are practical, interactive and fun

l We offer courses on a 1:1 basis or for groups l We can help you with learning technology – be it helping you evaluate your needs, working with you to implement systems and software, or training your staff to make the best use of what you’ve got

l We organise and manage learning events – conferences, seminars, exhibitions

l We offer facilitated learning l We write training materials l We can help you evaluate your learning strategy l We run CPD and post registration training and learning events

In short, we’re focused on learning. And we also do other things too…

3 Wemyss Court Glenrothes Fife KY7 4SX

tel. 0845 5192671 email. [email protected] web. www.focusedonlearning.com @FOL_ltd

Feedback from some of the delegates who have attended

“This course helped me think more about owning my own reports.”

“Very well presented, inclusive, and lots of time for discussion.”

“The delivery of the course was excellent and enjoyable.”

“Very informative and thought-provoking.”

Jon Bolton

Jon Bolton

07515 290202

www.focusedonlearning.com @FOL_Ltd v1A 1

While you're waiting

How quickly can you find out what is so unusual

about this paragraph? It looks so ordinary that you

would think that nothing is wrong with it at all,

and, in fact, nothing is.

But it is unusual!

Why?

If you study it and think about it, you may find out

– but I am not going to assist you in any way.

You must do it without coaching.

No doubt, if you work at it for long, it will dawn on you.

Who knows? Go to work and try your skill.

Par is about half an hour.

2 v1A www.focusedonlearning.com

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Contents

Parts 1 and 2

Resource Pack for Foundation Recording and Report Writing for Paraprofessionals

Part 3

Section Page

1 Introduction 9

2 Critical Analysis and Decision Making 15

3 Chronologies 27

4 Report Writing 35

5 Learning from Inquiries 45

6 References 51

Part 4 - Resources

Personal Development Plan 57

Self-assessment of your own work 59


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About the Trainers

The trainers are Jon Bolton and Janice West.

Jon and Janice are experienced trainers and lecturers. Both are currently involved in the training of social workers and social work students but they have worked across a range of professional disciplines and have also trained staff in health care, police and educational settings, and formal and informal carers. Jon and Janice hold social work qualifications and have significant practice experience.

Jon Jon is a Director of Focused on Learning and has worked in the not-for-profit, academic and statutory sectors for over 20 years. Until January 2010, Jon was a senior manager in one of Scotland's largest Social Work Services. He is also an Associate Lecturer at the University of Dundee, and a guest lecturer on the BA in Social Pedagogy at the University of Aberdeen. Jon has specialist knowledge of information management, data protection, eCare and communications as well as learning and development and technology enhanced learning. He has previously worked as a Workforce Development Adviser for the SSSC.

Janice Janice works regularly with Focused on Learning as an Associate Consultant. Her background is in higher education and she was previously a senior Lecturer in social work at Glasgow Caledonian University. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and has experience of knowledge and information management and elearning, together with skills in research and evaluation, writing and content development, and project management.

Both Jon and Janice are actively involved in delivering training courses in Scotland, the rest of the UK and abroad and with their experience of practice, project management, service development, evaluation, research and training, they offer considerable depth and breadth of knowledge.


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Resources

There are a range of resources in Section 4 of this pack. You will also find more resources in the Foundation Course Pack.

The following books may also be of some use:

Report Writing

(Social Work Pocketbooks)

Daisy Bogg Open University Press, 2012

Writing Skills for Social Workers

(Social Work in Action series)

Karen Healy SAGE Publications Ltd, 2012

Recording Skills in Safeguarding Adults:

Best Practice and Evidential Requirements

Jacki Pritchard Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2010


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Report Writing for Social Workers

(Post-Qualifying Social Work Practice Series)

Jane Watt Learning Matters, 2012

Courtroom and Report Writing Skills for Social Workers

(Post-Qualifying Social Work Practice Series)

Clare Seymour Learning Matters, 2012


Section 1

Introduction


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ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist

and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl

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arppoiatrely cllaed Typoglycemia .

Amzanig huh? The phaonmneel pweor of the hmuan mnid!

Yaeh and you awlyas thguoht slpeling was ipmorantt.


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Writing is recognised as critical to effective professional practice and as an essential social work skill. It represents a significant aspect of professional social work practice, most obviously through written assessment, inter-agency communication and case recording. Many workers in all areas of social work feel apprehension at the prospect of writing a formal report. Recent reviews and inquiries have highlighted the need for clear reports, recording and written communication between professionals. But the writing skills of qualifying social service workers have been of concern to the regulatory bodies, Inquiries and Reviews, and to the Courts, for some time. Sheriff Foulis (Perth) launched a withering attack on social workers in 2012, accusing them of being incompetent and trying to do his job for him, and criticised the quality of reports being supplied to the Court. The same year, in the High Court, Lord Uist told a social worker that she had "taking leave of her senses" after reading her report. This is a practical course that presents the report writing process in a clear and straightforward way. The course has been designed to support you to be a competent practitioner in relation to your report writing. By completing this course you will have the opportunity to:

• develop an awareness of your existing knowledge of report writing • understand the general principles of report writing • develop an understanding of the legislation, policy, procedure and care standards

which impact on recording in a social work service • understand your role and responsibility as an employee in recording information • have an awareness of the impact of recording information on the people you

support • identify areas for self-improvement

By the end of the course, we hope you will feel confident and supported in writing clear, accurate, focused and relevant records and reports, and be more analytical in your thinking and recording.

This Pack This manual is a resource pack – we will not cover all of the content or activities during the training course. It is provided for you to use as a self-development tool after the training has finished. It should be used in conjunction with the resource pack for Foundation Recording and Report Writing for Paraprofessionals.


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Reflecting on your learning

As you progress through the course today, you may identify areas where you need to learn further. You may identify gaps in your learning or just things you need a little support to improve or you may just want to become more informed. To support you to do this we have given you a Personal Action Plan (see the Resources section in Part 4 of this pack).

We’ve also included a sheet that encourages you to reflect on your recent reports and complete a self-assessment of your own work.

Use both of these to note any areas for improvement or learning you need organise for yourself.

Professional writing is… • Communicating a professional

opinion about a person • Writing reports which focus on

informing or persuading an audience to make a decision about a person’s life

• Making recommendations and formulating plans of action about a person and their circumstances

• Adhering to deadlines

Professional Responsibility � SSSC Codes of Conduct � Data Protection / Human Rights

legislation � Contract of Employment � Ethics and Values


Section 2

Critical Analysis and Decision Making


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One of the core tasks underpinning effective report writing is that of assessment, including risk assessment.

“Assessment should be seen as an ongoing process. It requires practitioners to be adept in developing trusting relationships… on the basis of which they can probe to gain deeper understanding of needs and circumstances; synthesizing and analyzing information in order to form judgments and making decisions”

Burton (2009)

Although this quote is taken from a chid care context, it is as applicable to any social work context. All too often, particularly when in the process of producing reports under pressure of time, assessment can become an event rather than a process – something that is ‘done to’ the service user rather than with their explicit involvement. In most situations where social workers are writing reports, this is done as part of a decision making process. Court reports, for example, are requested to provide the sheriff with more information about the offender than is available within the court setting. Community care assessments are almost always linked to a process of service allocation. In order for these processes to be successfully completed, an accurate assessment is required.

Assessment is at the heart of all good social work practice. It covers a spectrum of activities from observation and judgments made within a context of an initial encounter through to more formal and complex frameworks of assessment… Effective assessment needs workers to balance a number of competing and often conflicting demands in order that they obtain an understanding of service users and their situation.”

Watson and West (2006)


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Watson and West (2006) suggest that there are four stages in the assessment process:

1. Information gathering 2. Reflection 3. Critical analysis 4. Planning for outcomes

There is evidence to suggest that social workers are more comfortable with gathering information than they are making sense of that information to formulate appropriate plans and make realistic decisions that are grounded in appropriate evidence.

The problems in assessment seem to lie in the move from the collection of data or information to its use in practice to support judgement or decision- making. A number of commentators have observed that social workers are generally good communicators and skilled at gathering information about families and their circumstances, but that they have difficulty in then processing the material they have collected. The difficulties seem to lie in synthesising and analysing the data, evaluating it, and drawing conclusions. The failure or inability to analyse, in particular, has been noted time and again in Inquiry Reports, Inspection Reports and Serious Case Reviews, yet despite the repeated identification of this difficulty, and various new procedural requirements, the problem remains.

Turney (2009)

Increasingly, social workers find themselves preparing reports using particular formats or proformas. This creates the temptation to write to the structure rather than for the purpose set. By this we are suggesting that while it is important to understand the nature of the information required, it may be more helpful to focus on the purpose of the information gathering rather than the completion of the proforma.

This helps to avoid overly descriptive accounts of practice and serves as an aid to planning and decision making.


Critical Thinking

“Critical thinking encourages open dialogue and the consideration of opposing views. It involves taking responsibility for claims made and arguments presented. It requires flexibility and a readiness to admit, even welcome, the discovery of mistakes in your thinking. Critical thinking is independent thinking – thinking for yourself. Critical thinkers question values and positions that may be common in society, in a group or in their own family.”

Gibbs and Gambrill (1999)

In her book Effective Child Protection, Professor Eileen Munro suggests a practice model to assist understanding of the nature of social work expertise. She suggests that the essence of critical thinking is a complex interplay between reasoning skills, values, emotional wisdom, practice wisdom and formal knowledge.

Munro’s Practice Model

Dalzell & Sawyer (2011), adapted from Munro (2002) ‘Categories of knowledge and skills’.

Reasoning Skills

Values

Emotional Wisdom

Practice Wisdom

Formal Knowledge


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Any social work assessment that seeks to move beyond the merely instrumental requires elements of all five aspects.

Values All practice takes place in an ethical framework including, for example, consideration of the balance of rights and needs and awareness of discrimination in all its forms.

Reasoning Skills Ability to reflect critically on one's practice; and reason, from a basis of experience and knowledge. Ability to understand the balance between intuition and analysis in one's own decisions; and the ability to make a conscious appraisal of risks and benefits flowing from actions.

Emotional Wisdom Awareness of the emotional impact of the work on oneself and others and the ability to deal with this and use it as a source of understanding about behaviour of children, families, self and other professionals.

Practice Wisdom Folk psychology, social norms, cultural diversity; a combination of everyday skills and wisdom with enriched skills drawn from training and practice experience.

Formal Knowledge Law, policies and procedures and theories; empirical research evidence drawn, for example, from training and reading.


Professional Decision Making

“Social Work practitioners tend to be skilled communicators and are often good at eliciting and gathering information about people and their circumstances. However, for many social workers, difficulties arise when attempting to manage, make sense of and reach conclusions from this bulk of information.”

Holland S (2011)

Decision making is of crucial importance to the social work profession. Lives and liberty depend on decisions taken in crises and high risk situations such as in child protection and mental health. A central issue is the professional judgment of the social work practitioner working at the interface between the needs of clients and families and statutory duties to protect children and vulnerable adults from abuse and neglect on behalf of society.

“Risk is an essential and unavoidable part of everyday life. Social workers are accountable for maintaining professional standards and the quality of their work. A focus on assessment and prevention helps to identify and manage risk. Social workers need to be empowered and supported to make well informed decisions, using their professional judgement and discretion within a framework of accountability.”

Scottish Government (2011)


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Critical Decision Tool

Stage 1

Log decision points on the line. Note on this side what they were and when they were made. Include decisions made by other people involved in the situation as well as those made by you. Also include micro-decisions that may have impacted on the overall progress of the situation.

Stage 2

At each of the decision points ask some or all of the following questions:

• What factors influenced the decision? (eg. research theory, resources, pragmatic considerations)

• Note points when you changed your understanding of the situation and say why.

• Note when a decision changed the direction of the situation. How did this impact on your thinking and actions?

• What alternative goals may have existed at certain points?

• What courses of action were available other than the ones taken?

• What factors may have led to the chosen option?

• What might have happened at certain points if a particular piece of information have not arrived or if another person involved in the situation had acted it in a different way?

• If a particular option had been blocked, what would your reaction have been?

Stage 3

Revisit the decision points and ask if a novice could have got confused and made mistakes? Why would they have made them? Consider what the possible consequences of different decision and/or factors coming into play would be at the different decision points. Reflect on what the learning has been from completing the timeline.

Adapted from Practice Tool 11: Critical Decision Tool, page 127 in Putting Analysis into Assessment, Dalzell & Sawyer (2011)


Practice Governance Framework:

Responsibility and Accountability

in Social Work Practice


Employers, in conjunction with Chief

Social Work Officers as appropriate,

should ensure:

Social Workers should:

• Clear strategic objectives and a robust operational framework are in place to deliver social work services;

• There is clear guidance about balancing risk, needs and human rights;

• Social Workers are supported to exercise professional judgement and take risks;

• There is a structured approach to assessing and managing risk, drawing on evidence based approaches and supported by robust risk assessment and risk management systems that are routinely audited and monitored; and

• That a framework exists for the development of innovative personalised support informed by relevant risk assessment.

• Uphold professional social work values and ethics in their practice;

• Exercise, justify and record professional judgements and decision making;

• Use, as a basis for approach to risk, discretion and decision making:

• legislation, protocols, codes, guidance;

• social work theory, models, practice;

• best knowledge based practice;

• evidence;

• informed opinion; and

• Develop and maintain knowledge, skills and competence, recognising and working within the limits of their competence.


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What does this look like?

• It is understood, including by elected members, that risk is inevitable and that there is a structure that promotes appropriate risk-taking supported by evidence-based risk assessment approaches;

• Considered risk taking weighs up the potential benefits or disbenefits of taking the risk against not taking the risk;

• Individuals' understanding and capability to share risk is routinely explored and taken into account in decisions made about social work intervention with them;

• Practice is openly reviewed when things go well or go wrong and learning is identified and shared;

• Social Workers demonstrate enhanced critical decision making skills, backed up by sound evidence and best practice;

• There is clear guidance and understanding of working with risk, including child and adult risk assessment and management;

• Social Workers have the appropriate skills and training to:

o carry out risk assessment tasks;

o effectively use the discretion they have to develop innovative, personalised solutions in conjunction with partners and people who need support or services;

o make, and be able to justify, their decisions; and

• There is an up to date and accurate chronology and analysis to support decisions made.


“The main weakness of reports was in those aspects of report writing which required analysis… assessment… and the use of evidence.”

SWSI (1996)

“The process of analysis is most important in making clear, explicit connections between all significant evidence and judgements about what needs to change for the child. The expectation is that this will be recorded in the assessment report. Without this, there can be no clear and convincing basis for any resulting action plan.”

Gibson, Baldwin & Daniel (2006)

“Public Enquiries and Practice Audits have identified a lack of attention to histories of significant events, (and) failures to make comprehensive assessment of all possible risks and risk factors” 26

“The Risk Management Plan should include a summary of all risks identified, formulation of the situations in which identified risks may occur and action to be taken by practitioners and the service user in response to crisis” 27

Joint Improvement Team (2007)

Important decisions were taken when no records were available, and no notes or minutes kept. Further when decision were taken, it was often not easy to understand the basis on which they were taken. The quality of what was put on paper often left much to be desired… Minutes (when they existed) were sometimes undated, unsigned and of dubious quality. There was no system in place within New Expectations or Family matters for circulating draft minutes for approval, or for circulating dated and signed Minutes as soon as possible after meetings.

Anderson (2014)


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Section 3

Chronologies


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What is a Chronology?

‘Chronologies have become one of the most talked about and least understood tools in modern social work practice.’ (p1)

Chronologies are most often thought of in the context of work with children and young people, but they may have equal relevance in work with adults, and in criminal and youth justice. (p1)

There are many definitions of a chronology for example:

• 'A list in date order of all the major changes and events in a person's life.'

• 'A chronology seeks to provide a clear account of all significant events in a child's life to date, drawing upon the knowledge and information held by agencies involved with the child and family.'

• 'The purpose of a chronology is early indications of emerging patterns of concern.'

Rather than seeking a single definition, we discuss different forms of chronology which have relevance to a range of people who use services.

We distinguish between single agency and multi-agency chronologies and those concerned with assessment and risk management and reviews of previous historic events for example significant case reviews. We heard differing views about whether there should be a 'family chronology' or one for each child in the family, or both. (p2)

Recent inquiries into the care of children, adults at risk, and people who commit serious crimes, have all concluded that a chronology could have helped towards an earlier identification of risks to the person, or risks from them. (p3)

Extracts from Practice Guide on Chronologies Social Work Inspection Agency (2010)


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We have reproduced the SWIA Practice Guide on Chronologies in full in the Resources Section of this pack (Part 4), but we want to draw your attention to the ten core aspects of a chronology, which should:

1. be a useful tool in assessment and practice 2. not an assessment – but part of assessment 3. not an end in itself – a working tool which promotes engagement with people who

use services 4. be accurate – rely on good, up-to-date case recording 5. contain sufficient detail but not substitute for recording in the file 6. be flexible – detail collected may be increased if risk increases 7. be reviewed and analysed – a chronology which is not reviewed regularly is of

limited relevance 8. recognise that different constructions of a chronology are needed for different

reasons e.g. current work and examining historical events 9. recognise that single agency and multi-agency chronologies set different

demands and expectations 10. record what was done at the time. Many chronologies list events, dates etc. but

do not have a column which sets out the action which was taken at the time. This column should also include a note when there was no action.

There are wide variations between different guidance on what to include in a chronology, but as a starter core elements include:

• Key dates of birth, life events, moves. • Facts, eg. child's name placed on the child protection register, MAPPA meeting,

adult who is subject to adult protection procedures. • Transitions, life changes. • Key professional interventions, eg. reviews, hearings, tribunals, prison sentences. • Not opinion – these may be for the record but the strength of chronologies lies in

their reporting of facts/times/dates. • A very brief note of an event, eg. a fall down stairs, coming to school with a bruise,

a registered sex offender whose car keeps breaking down outside a primary school. • The actions which were taken. Many chronologies list events and dates but do not

have a column which enables actions taken, or not taken to be recorded.

After these core elements there will be variations depending on the purpose of the chronology.


Activity 1

Read through the information in the handout.

1. Note down your thoughts on an individual basis.

2. In your small group, explore the following: • Are there any patterns you think emerge? • What is the evidence to support this? • What potential pitfalls might there be in this summary?


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Activity 2

In your small group, discuss how you might use chronologies more effectively in your practice.

What do you consider to be the opportunities?

What do you consider to be the challenges?

Prepare your comments on the flipchart provided and be ready to feed back to the larger group.


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Section 4

Report Writing


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Report Writing

Report writing is a core skill in social work practice. Through report writing, social workers have a significant influence on outcomes for individual clients and on the delivery of social services. Reports provide you with an important opportunity to persuade influential decision makers such as courts, managers, and funding bodies of specific concerns facing clients at individual and community levels. Hence, effective report writing skills are essential to achieving outcomes in social work practice.

Healy and Mulholland (2012)

Reports are recording for a particular occasion, when a formal statement is presented by a social worker in written form. It therefore follows that reports are written for someone else who may well have the power to make decisions with far- reaching consequences for the service user, and sometimes, their family.

Reports may be presented in court, to a review meeting, to a child or adult protection case conference, or to a resource panel. They may form part of ongoing recording on a case file. Social workers are required to write a range of reports.

All reports need to be evidence based and constructed so that they are non- judgemental and anti-discriminatory.

It is important to consider the range of audiences for the report, which often include children, parents, managers, workers from other agencies and the courts. Reports often need to justify resources and will be scrutinised by panels or used as the basis for decision-making. The contents will be scrutinised to ensure that the recommendations are justified and evidenced based.


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Before you start to think about writing a social work professional report it is important you determine:

• Who is the report for? • What is its purpose? • Who will read the report? • What is already known about the service user, the family and individuals? • Who else is involved with the service user?


Checklist – what makes a good report?

• Clear structure • Plain English • Robust and specific assessments • Defensible decisions (see page xx) • Clear analysis • Balanced strengths and risks • Links with relevant theories (eg. attachment), recent research findings,

best practice models • Considers the views, wishes and feelings of the service user • Considers the views, wishes and feelings of family members as appropriate • An owned holistic assessment of needs and risk • Puts forward a clear proposal and recommendations • ls succinct and to the point

Bogg (2013) provided the following advice on structuring your report:

• If a template is provided, follow it • Always plan your report before writing • The report should follow a logical structure • Use headings that are succinct and accurately describe the contents • Keep tenses and perspective consistent • Avoid jargon, and use formal language • Be respectful of the report's subject and consult with them as appropriate

Some good practice points in report writing highlighted by Bogg (2013) include asking a colleague to proofread; making sure your report covers facts, analysis and conclusions; and remembering to discuss the finished report with the service user and representatives before submitting it to the decision-making forum.


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Writing effective reports

Prior to writing a report

• Know the relevant theory/research • Identify assumptions you bring into

the situation • Hypothesise prior to gathering

information • Gather information from a wide

variety of sources

When drafting the report

• Sort information into appropriate categories

• Acknowledge sources of information (including theory and research) and use research evidence appropriately

• Summarise each category • Use summaries to test/form

hypothesis • Identify any gaps in information • Use diagrams to sketch relationships

between factors within and across the domains and dimensions of the assessment framework

• Use the idea of identifying processes that are linear or circular

• Use the idea of identifying processes that lead to patterns of impairment/difficulty or strengths/benefits

• Use the following considerations as a checklist: intrusiveness, pervasiveness, modifiability, duration, unusualness

Writing the report

• Write the analysis so that it is a clear explanation of the situation with reasons (ie. it shows your reasoning)

• Justify/substantiate your professional judgements

• Identify any gaps in knowledge/understanding and further action required

• Show that you have been reasonable and fair

• Ensure use of persuasive language does not undermine the views of parents, carers and children

• Reach a conclusion – compare and discriminate between the different choices that could be made

• Put your conclusions into action by writing a plan

From Putting Analysis into

Assessment Dalzell & Sawyer, p120 (2011)


Defensible decision making

Defensible decision making means providing a clear rationale for all the decisions made – AND the discussions that led to an informed decision, including reference to relevant policy, legislation, evidence based practice, and recognised tools.

A decision is based on the information known at a particular time. It is important to accurately and concisely record your decision-making processes, in order that you can explain how and why you came to the decision at that time. Often additional information comes to light at a later date that may discredit your decision, and on reflection a person can be asked to account for their actions. Accurate, timely, concise, specific, appropriate recording will support your decision making and provide justification for actions taken.

• Use facts to back up opinions • Provide reasons for the judgements • Use clear, logical explanations to back up what you think • Avoid assumptions, generalisations and promote anti-discriminatory practice


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The Scottish Government argue that it is imperative that practitioners make defensible decisions in all cases. In practice, this means to make a defensible decision, practitioners must:

• Ensure decisions are grounded in evidence • Use reliable risk assessment tools • Collect, verify and thoroughly evaluate information • Record and account for decision-making • Communicate with relevant others and seek relevant information you

do not have • Work within agency policies and procedures • Take all reasonable steps to minimise risk • Match risk management interventions to risk factors • Maintain contact with offenders at a level commensurate with the

level of risk of harm, and • Respond to escalating risk, deteriorating behaviour, and non-

compliance

This will ensure that decisions can be evidenced, and defended, if necessary.



Activity 3

You have exchanged reports with a colleague and now are asked to consider the following…

• Are you clear about the audience for this report? • Is the purpose of the report and its desired outcomes explained? • Is the assessment needs led? • Have all relevant people being involved? • Is there evidence of analysis of the facts / weighing up of options? • Is there any evidence of research and theory (either explicit or implicit) being used

to support arguments? • Do conclusions flow logically from the information gathered and its analysis? • What 3 positive features can you identify within the report? • Have you learned anything from the reading of this report that helps you evaluate

your own report writing skills? • If you wished to offer the writer of the report one piece of developmental feedback,

what would that be?

Notes:

Adapted from Dalzell & Sawyer (2007)


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Section 5

Learning from Inquiries


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It is vital that lessons are learnt from inquiries into failures in social care services and social work practice. An overview of inquiry reports into failings in the child protection system shows a number of common themes emerging...

• Issues with inter-agency working

• Decision making

• Relationships with families

• Collecting and interpreting information

(adapted from Sinclair and Bullock, 2002)


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Inappropriate recording and failure to share information were flagged in each of the public reports into the following child deaths:

• Victoria Climbié – died 25th February 2000 in London – age 8

• Kennedy McFarlane – died 17th May 2000 in Dumfries and Galloway – age 3

• Caleb Alexander Ness – died 18th October 2001 in Edinburgh – age 11 weeks

• Carla Nicole Bone – died 13th May 2002 in Aberdeenshire – age 13 months

• Danielle Reed – died 8th November 2002 in Inverness – age 5

• Peter Connelly – died 3rd August 2007 in London – age 17 months

• Brandon Muir – died 16th March 2008 in Dundee – age 23 months

• Khyra Ishaq – died in 2008 in Birmingham – age 7

• Declan Hainey – died 30 March 2010 in Renfrewshire – age 23 months

• Keanu Williams – died 9 January 2011 in Birmingham – age 2

• Daniel Pelka – dies 3 March 2012 in Coventry – age 4

That is not an exhaustive list, but each of the cases listed above has changed our thinking, jolted our accountability and improved our practice. And yet we continue to make the same simple mistakes!

If our practice is to best protect children and vulnerable adults we need to start paying proper attention to our history. And that means getting the basics of practice right.

Brandon Muir died following a violent assault by his mother's partner. Nobody had noticed the suffering of Brandon, too young to speak and communicate his pain, and he slowly bled to death on the inside. What emerged from two reviews into his death, published in August 2009, was that crucial information that had been collected by various officials charged with Brandon's protection had not been shared or recorded properly.


Victoria Climbié was known to

• 4 social work departments • 3 housing departments • 2 child protection police teams • 2 hospitals • 1 NSPCC centre • a few local churches

One of the social work departments closed her case on 25th February 2000 – the day that Victoria died.

These failings have featured regularly in inquiries held into the death or abuse of children in care for nearly 70 years.

Dennis O'Neill On 28 June 1944, Dennis O'Neill, who had been in the care of Newport Borough Council for nearly six years, was placed into foster care. Seven months later and two months shy of his 13th birthday, Dennis was dead. He suffered a heart attack following a brutal beating to his chest and back with a stick by his foster father, Reginald Gough. Dennis had septic ulcers on his feet and severely chapped legs. He weighed just over four stone. His stomach was empty. He had been so undernourished that he had sucked cow’s udders for milk.

The subsequent inquiry found that the issues that contributed to his death included poor record-keeping and filing, lack of partnership working, failing to act on warning signs, weak supervision and "a lamentable failure of communication".


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Justice Denied

Directly related to the above controversy is the necessity to have clear, comprehensive, up to date recording. This should include all key documents such as concise professional assessments, a chronology of incidents and actions taken, and minutes of case reviews and case discussions as well as a note of all parties with whom this information has been shared. The case record material we reviewed both for health and social work often demonstrated very poor recording practices. Case summaries and transfer summaries were rarely completed. Entries were incomplete, at times undated and unsigned. There is no evidence of attempts to pull together historical events to aid in the assessment and care planning process. The organization of the files was quite erratic. Files and information within the different parts of the Social Work Department were kept separately and it was not clear what information was shared and known within each service in the Department. We could not see from the records how events and changes to risk assessments and care planning affected the day to day practice of some staff, for example those working in the Resource Centre. Reviews held on the Day Care side of the Department routinely failed to take account of reported assaults or to cite issues relating to Miss A’s limited sexual knowledge and her history of sexual assault.

Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland (2008)


Section 6

References


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Aberdeen City Council and Robert Gordon University (2010) Professional writing

guidance booklet for social work practitioners. Aberdeen: Aberdeen City Council. Available online at http://data.learningnetworks.org.uk/news/332/Professional_Writing_Guidance_Booklet_Edition_2.pdf

Anderson, Sheriff R (2014) Determination by Sheriff Ruth Anderson QC, Sheriff of

North Strathclyde, following an Inquiry held at Paisley into the circumstances of the

death of Declan Hugh Hainey born 17th April 2008 (2014FAI25, Paisley Sheriff Court, 3rd September 2014). Available online at https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/search-judgments/judgment?id=bcb1a7a6-8980-69d2-b500-ff0000d74aa7

Bogg, D. (2013) Report Writing (Social Work Pocketbooks). Maidenhead: Open University Press

Burton, S. (2009) The oversight and review of cases in the light of changing

circumstances and new information: how do people respond to new (and

challenging) information? London: Centre for Excellence and Outcomes in Children and Young People's Services. Available online at http://childprotectionnorthayrshire.info/cpc/download/?file=575

Dalzell, R. and Sawyer, E. (2011) Putting Analysis into Assessment, 2nd Edition. London: National Children’s Bureau.

Gibbs, L. and Gambrill, E. (1999) Critical Thinking for Social Workers. London: Sage.

Gibson, P., Baldwin, N. and Daniel, B. (2006) Integrated Assessment: Evaluation

Report on Ayrshire & West Lothian Pilot Projects Assessing Children in Need. Edinburgh: Scottish Government. Available online at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/01/26095836/0

Healy, K. and Mulholland, J. (2012) Writing Skills for Social Workers. London: Sage.

Holland, S. (2011) Child and Family Assessment in Social Work Practice. London: Sage.


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Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland (2008) Justice Denied: Report of the

investigation into the care and treatment of Ms A. Edinburgh: Mental Welfare Commission for Scotland. Available online at http://www.mwcscot.org.uk/media/51943/Justice%20Denied%20Ms%20A.pdf

Scottish Government (2011) Practice Governance Framework: Responsibility and

Accountability in Social Work Practice. Edinburgh: Scottish Government. Available online at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/347682/0115812.pdf

Scottish Government (2012) Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA)

National Guidance. Edinburgh: Scottish Government. Available online at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2012/01/12094716/8

Sinclair, R. and Bullock, R. (2002) Learning from past experience: a review of serious

case reviews. London: Department of Health.

SWIA (2010) Practice guide: Chronologies. Edinburgh: Social Work Inspection Agency. Available online at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/299703/0093436.pdf

SWSI (1996) Helping the Courts Decide: Report of an Inspection of Social Enquiry

Reports for the Criminal Courts. Edinburgh: Stationery Office.

Turney, D. (2009) Analysis and Critical Thinking in Assessment. Dartington: Research in Practice.

Watson, D. and West, J. (2006) Social Work Process and Practice. Basingstoke: Palgrave.


Resources


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Personal Development Plan As a result of my learning…

I will do more of…

I will do less of…

Improving my skills and knowledge

Specific Areas to Improve: (think about distinct accomplishments and activities to be achieved)

Problems to Overcome: (describe the barriers that must be eliminated or reduced and how this will be done)

How? By when?

How? By when?

“Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world!”

Joel A. Barker


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In order to achieve my learning goals, I need help from…

Park your ideas here for later…


Self-assessment of your own work Adapted from Dalzell & Sawyer (2011, p143)

Thinking about your work as a whole, and reflecting on recent reports you have completed, on a scale of 0-10 (0 = not at all, and 10 = perfect), how well do you think you…

1. Break down the service user’s needs and explore them in detail? Consider the impact on outcomes, of different needs being met (or not).

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Comments

2. Draw on and demonstrate knowledge of theory / research / formal knowledge in your reports?

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Comments

3. Explore cultural / equality issues and issues of power, fully and clearly?

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Comments

4. Demonstrate an open0-minded approach to exploring different hypotheses / explanations / understanding of the circumstances?

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Comments

“A reflection in a mirror is an exact replica of what is in front of it. Reflection in professional practice, however, gives back not what it is, but what it might be, an improvement on the original.”

John Biggs


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5. Provide a thorough analysis of the information gathered?

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Comments

6. Demonstrate a creative approach to consulting with / involving service users?

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Comments

7. Articulate the way decisions or conclusions were reached, eg. describing different options and how they have been considered?

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Comments

8. Demonstrate that other key professionals have been appropriately consulted with / involved in the work leading up to the preparation of the report?

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Comments

9. Show evidence of decisions / recommendations having been discussed with service users?

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Comments


10. Write clearly, thoroughly and succinctly in accessible language?

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Comments

11. Challenge poor practice when you see it, from other professionals and/or agencies?

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Comments

12. Achieved improved outcomes for service users through your involvement and your influence on professional practice?

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Comments

Give yourself an overall score based on the average of the scores you have given for the questions above.

Total the scores above, and divide by 12.

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Based on your scores, identify up to three things that you wish to do to strengthen your practice. This may need to involve other people through training / supervision / mentoring, etc.

1.

2. 3.


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Notes


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Notes


Notes


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Notes

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